


You'll Wonder How You Wandered For So Long, So Blind

by starryeyed_dyke



Category: Next to Normal - Kitt/Yorkey
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:14:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28584084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryeyed_dyke/pseuds/starryeyed_dyke
Summary: Natalie returns from the dance and finds an unexpected visitor in her room.
Relationships: Natalie Goodman/Henry
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	You'll Wonder How You Wandered For So Long, So Blind

**Author's Note:**

> My second posted work in the Next to Normal fandom! It's gonna end up being multichapter, I just don't know exactly how long.

“Alright, I’ll drop you off here.” Henry hummed softly, reaching out for her hand and squeezing it reassuringly. “Unless you want me to come in.”

His statement is simple enough, Natalie thinks. He still respects her boundaries despite everything. He still doesn’t want to pry, and he still just wants to make sure that she knows she’s loved and cared for. “No, thank you.” She hums, pulling her coat around herself a little tighter and glancing outside at the tree branches swaying in the brisk March air. “Are you busy this Friday?”

“Mom’ll want me to help with dinner, but that isn’t hard.” Henry shrugs halfheartedly, running his thumbs over her knuckles. “Date night?”

“Date night.” She confirms with a weak smile, eyes glimmering as she glances outside at the stars shimmering above Henry’s beat up car. She then leans over to press a kiss to his lips, enjoying the way his face flushes red and he seems to suddenly get shy. It’s adorable, as always. “Pick me up at eight, then?”

“Eight _P.M_., right?” Both know it’s a joke on his part, which is what coaxes the soft laughter from their lips.

“I’ll let you figure that out on your own.” Her hand lingers on his, cherishing his warmth and the steady, albeit hard to notice, heartbeat. “Maybe I’ll call you later, we can plan?”

“Oh, because planning a date is so hard.” His voice dripped with sarcasm, although it wasn’t harsh at all. “You get flowers and take her to a movie and boom: perfect date.”

“Shut up,” she teases, that smile gracing her face once more. “It’s harder than that. The deciding factor is that it isn’t just _any_ guy, it’s you.” She reluctantly pulls her hand away from his, biting her bottom lip. “Talk to you soon?”

“Yep, see ya later, alligator.” His words are almost nervously spoken, and she can’t really blame him after that mental breakdown she started to experience at the dance. She knows he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her but it still causes some worry that hadn’t been there a second ago. The realization that only one car is in her driveway doesn’t help.

“After a while, crocodile…” She trails off, not speaking further as her hand collides with the cool metal of the door handle and opens it, the crisp air hitting her like a truck. She inhales, sharply, eyes surveying the house like it’s some trap. The light in the drive is off. The lights inside are off too. It isn’t comforting. She slams Henry’s car’s door behind her without a second thought, absentmindedly gnawing on the inside of her cheek.

“You sure you good?” Henry double checks, rolling down the window so that he can stare at her for another second. “You sure you don’t wanna come home with me?”

It’s a very tempting offer, Natalie has to admit. She’s been in his room a few times and it feels safe. On top of that, his parents are openly affectionate and loving and, despite an awkward ‘what are your intentions with our son’ conversation, they’ve only managed to make her comfortable. Furthermore, he’s got a heated blanket and it always feels nice when she can curl up against him and know that she’s going to wake in the morning and he’ll still be there.

She declines.

“That’s okay. Call me if you need me.” That suggestion always stands, she’s aware. “Goodbye, babe.” He blows a kiss which Natalie pretends to catch and press to her lips, then returning the gesture. Finally, though, the car drives off and she’s left watching his headlights fade away into the night.

Then she has to face her fears. She forces her feet to move and carry her up the drive and to the doorway. She reaches into her coat pocket and fishes around for the key, finding it among pill bottles and tissues. Then she reaches at the door and she jostles the handle, watching as it swings open to reveal a dark living room, seemingly abandoned. It sends chills up her spine.

[He grins as the older man buries his face into his hands. For a brief moment, he feels a pang of regret but it doesn’t last very long. He’s distracted by the door opening.]

Then her eyes rest on her father, sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. There’s a fleeting flash of Natalie being unsure what to do, what to say, how to react. Finally, she finds the courage to speak. “Dad…? What the hell?” She steps closer, worry dripping from her words. “Why are the lights off? Where’s mom?” She feels a tad of anger ignite as she thinks about it. Mom must be fucking gone. Just when Natalie finally was beginning to think that she and her mother might actually form a relationship. And mom left, left after one of the most important nights of Natalie’s life. She regrets not going with Henry.

Dad looks up at her and even in the dark, she can tell that he’s been crying. His eyes flicker besides her-

[Gabe grins to himself. He can see him, finally. Haunting this house and only being able to talk to mom was so _boring!_ But dad, oh, that was going to be interesting. And maybe…]

-but it isn’t very long before his attention is back on her. “She’s, uh, she’s…”

Natalie grimaces, finishing his sentence. “Gone.”

[Gabe is really enjoying the thoughts that he’s having. His hand reaches out and brushes Natalie’s hair out of her eye, earning her hand moving up to her face to touch at the weird feeling. She seems momentarily confused, but doesn’t think of it much longer.]

“Yes.” Dan chokes out, and Natalie is aware that he doesn’t know what else to say. She wouldn’t know what else to say to her child when their other parent abandoned them. Panic begins to rise in her chest that it would happen, this exchange, between Henry and their possible child but it only takes another second for it to calm. No, no. She wouldn’t abandon her husband and her child if it came to that. Then she’s snapped back to reality.

“Huh.” That’s all she can manage as she starts to make her way across the room. “So, it’s just you and me? For now?”

[Gabe starts to laugh. No, no, it really isn’t. He’s there too! And dad can _see_ him now! And Nat had reacted too when he touched her face.]

Dan stares directly at Gabe who wore that cocky smile, raised eyebrow, and crossed arms. “Yes.”

[ _It isn’t, it isn’t, it isn’t!_ Even Gabe’s thoughts are fucking filled with glee. Dad can see him! Natalie can sense he’s there! And gods, he could always go visit mom. But maybe his ghost was stuck to the house. He would figure it out later.]

Natalie was just quiet for a prolonged moment before she spoke, the word burning in the back of her throat and making her sick. “Okay.” What else was she supposed to say? It wasn’t like she was able to argue! She just had to go ahead and accept it, then be there for her father. She taps her hand on her thigh a couple of times before she figured out what to do all in one moment.

[Gabe sat on the opposite side of the room, crisscrossing his legs and tilting his head, just beaming at dad. Dad had buried his face into his hands once more, sure, but was peering at him through the divides of his fingers.]

Natalie reached under the lamp, pawing for the on switch before finding it and flicking it on. “We need some light.” A pause as she rationalized what to say next. It was hard to find the words, so she just repeated it. “First of all, we need some light.”

[Gabe inhaled sharply at the sudden bright light, causing his form that was still, apparently, only visible to Dan, to flicker. But finally, he adjusted and settled back down, back against the wall and eyebrow still raised. “What cliché shit do you think Nat’s gonna say to you?”]

“You can't sit here in the dark and all alone- it's a sorry sight.” She moved to take her father’s hand and tug him to his feet, trying to get him out of whatever slump he was in. “It’s just you and me.” There was a pause as she searched for the words, taking off her jacket and smiling shakily as her father finally saw her in her dress. “We’ll _live,_ you’ll see.”

Dad took a few seconds, a gentle and loving look on his face. “Why don’t you go to sleep, Nat-Cat?”

She nodded simply, hanging up her coat before making her way to the stairs. They creaked under her weight-

[Gabe decided to follow. Dan wouldn’t be nearly as fun to talk to as his unstable little sister.]

-and every now and then, behind her. She didn’t think twice about it, easily coming to terms with the fact that it was her father retiring to his own bedroom. Little did she know, at the moment, that it wasn’t. If she _had_ turned around she would have seen nothing there, she would have dismissed it as the house settling back into place. But she didn’t, she got straight to the point and made a b-line for her room. She went to shut the door behind her and for a second there was resistance which she decided was the wind or the old hinges.

[“Hey, don’t close the door in my face!” Gabe huffed as he slipped into Natalie’s room, getting a face full of the wood. “That’s just rude. Nat-Cat, how was your dance?” Curiosity shone in his voice but Natalie didn’t acknowledge him.]

She just made her way to the bathroom, planning on wiping off her makeup and changing into the hoodie she had stolen from Henry a few weeks ago and some sweatpants. The problem was (the problem that she only noticed when she had half wiped off her makeup and she looked like herself on one side of her face, and on the other she felt like she looked like a clown. Henry said that he liked how she looked without it.) that she had forgotten her clothes.

So she opened up the door and was met with-

[Gabe stood outside of the door, having been talking to her and trying to get her attention. He had thought that it was a fruitless endeavor. That is, until the door swung open to reveal her, eyes widening.]

-a stranger. She didn’t recognize him but at the same time, it was like he was the only person she ever knew. Her head tilted to the side and she stepped back, eyes darting around for a weapon she could use. She didn’t trust him. Then she heard him speak. “Can you see me?”

“Who the _fuck_ are you?”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, what did you guys think? I really enjoyed writing asshole Gabe ngl!


End file.
